LCUSD News

It is my sincere pleasure to be joining La Cañada Elementary School as Principal this year. Our staff has been hard at work all summer getting ready for this 2015/16 school year. La Cañada Elementary School prides itself on its legacy of providing an all-encompassing educational experience that includes strong academic achievement, creative expression, social immersion, and emotional development.

The symbiotic relationship between LCE faculty and families plays an important role in its success. Our students benefit from the expertise of our teachers at school, and their learning is supported and reinforced at home. We are pleased to welcome four new additions to our teaching staff this year: Raven Flowers will teach Kindergarten, Carey Durfee and Yoona Lee will be teaching second grade, and Debi Hayos will be teaching Physical Education. Heather Ehrhart, our new PTA President, has been diligently working with her executive board and volunteers to ensure that we can all work together to provide our students with a memorable school experience.

Along with Paradise Canyon and Palm Crest Elementary schools, La Cañada Elementary shares the educational platform of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). Our Computer Specialist, Vicki Brown, will receive specialized training that will create opportunities for coding instruction during the school day. Beyond the school day, LCE PTA offers enrichment programs such as Future Coders, Young Coders, Math Olympiad, Science Olympiad, and our new, innovative Tinkering class, which we expect to be hugely popular.

Technology integration continues to thrive campus-wide at LCE. Every Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade class will have access to shared iPads and will use the camera and recording features of these devices to demonstrate their understanding of subject matter. In grades 3 through 6, students will use their school email accounts to share and collaborate with one another using Chromebooks. This year, our 5th grade students will be participating in an exciting, new 1:1 program with their own personal Chromebooks.

Along with these exciting offerings, LCE students will also have the chance to enrich their education by taking advantage of after-school programs such as Chess, Mandarin, Creative Writing, Hip Hop, Lego Robotics, Painting, and Soccer. During the school day, students receive enrichment in Art, Drama, Music, and Spanish. Many of these programs are possible thanks to the efforts of our Educational Foundation and the families of LCE, who continue to generously donate to their children’s educational growth.

In closing, the staff of LCE, along with the other two elementary schools, are acutely aware of the expectations of our community regarding the education of our children, and we wholly devote ourselves to providing the highest standards of that education.